WANTED fugitive Michael Voudouris was remanded for three days by a court in the north on Tuesday relating to a case of identity theft and illegal entry.

According to Turkish Cypriot media, the British Cypriot who is wanted in Scotland for tax evasion was arrested on Saturday.

If found guilty, Voudouris can expect to be expelled to Turkey where he would face extradition back to the UK.

According to Scottish news reports, British authorities are seeking to confiscate over €10m worth of his assets.

An arrest warrant for the 46-year-old was issued in 2012 after Voudouris failed to appear in an Edinburgh court to hear his sentence after pleading guilty to two cases of money laundering.

The British Cypriot had confessed in November 2012 to hiding over £10m (€12m) in accounts in Cyprus, Greece and Switzerland, collected from claiming VAT on bogus transactions. He originally faced charges of money laundering involving £45m (€54.4m), which was reduced following his confession.

Voudouris also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of hiding £1.2m (€1.5m) from the taxman.

He was released on bail but ended up skipping bail, doing a runner reportedly to the breakaway regime in the north which has no extradition treaty with Britain.

This was not the first time the British Cypriot found himself in hot water with HM Revenue and Customs, having previously been sentenced to four years in jail in 2004 on similar charges of VAT fraud totalling £3.5m (€4.2m), while in 2008 a court ordered him to return £1.3m (€1.6m) obtained illegally.

According to Scottish regional news outlet, STV News, apart from wanting him behind bars to serve a ten-year jail sentence, prosecutors are also trying to confiscate the cash he made from his crimes, targeting his home in Scotland.

Last January, the Daily Record reported that they had found the fugitive living in a four-bedroom villa near occupied Kyrenia with his wife and two daughters.

They were alerted to his escape to the breakaway regime after his 26-year-old daughter posted a photo of herself on a Cyprus beach on Facebook.

In August 2013, the paper said Voudouris had become Scotland’s top target in a new list of Britain’s most-wanted criminal tax dodgers.

By Scott Malone
A $760 million settlement between the National Football League and thousands of former players, who contended the league downplayed the risk of concussions, was rejected on Tuesday by a US judge, who said it might not be enough money to pay all affected players.
The deal, first reached in August, set aside up to $5 million for each former player diagnosed with a certain brain condition as a result of their years on the playing field.
Given the large number of people who could benefit from the suit – more than 4,500 former players signed on – US District Judge Anita Brody warned that the proposed deal may not include enough funds to meet the claims.
“I am primarily concerned that not all retired NFL football players who ultimately receive a qualifying diagnosis, or their related claimants, will be paid,” Brody wrote in papers filed in federal court in Philadelphia.
“Even if only 10 per cent of retired NFL football players eventually receive a qualifying diagnosis, it is difficult to see how the monetary award fund would have the funds available over its lifespan to pay all claimants at these significant award levels,” the decision said.
Up to 20,000 former players could ultimately be eligible for payment, Brody said.
The lawsuit, filed in 2012, contended that the league hid the dangers of brain injury players faced while profiting from the sport’s sometimes violent physical contact. When the settlement was first disclosed in August, sports business experts described it as a modest amount of money for the NFL, which is believed to generate total annual revenue of $9 billion or $10 billion.
In recent years, there have been suicides among current and former NFL players, including Jovan Belcher, Junior Seau, Ray Easterling and Dave Duerson. While none of those deaths could be directly connected to the sport, violent or erratic behaviour is consistent with symptoms of a condition tied to repeated hits to the head many players endure in games and practices.
A growing body of academic research shows those hits can lead to a condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which can lead to aggression and dementia.
The research has already prompted the NFL to make changes on the field, including banning the most dangerous helmet-to-helmet hits and requiring teams to keep players who have taken hits to the head off the field if they show symptoms including dizziness or memory gaps.

By Bejay Browne

AN INJECTION of €27m urgently needed to implement necessary infrastructure in Paphos as part of the town’s cultural capital 2017 winning bid, claims the municipality.

Paphos Mayor Savvas Vergas presented a programme to members of parliament on Tuesday, consisting of various construction and infrastructure projects, which he described as “imperative for Paphos’ future”,

“The initial amount for a variety of projects was about €60 million, but some of these have now been shelved to bring down the total needed for us to be successfully represented as the Cultural Capital of Europe 2017,” Vergas told the Cyprus Mail.

In 2013, Paphos won an international competition, a title shared with Aarhus in Denmark, to become the European Capital of Culture for 2017.

Vergas said the plan for Paphos includes renovating the entire centre of the old town, including squares and shopping streets and upgrading the two theatres- Othello and Markideio.

“In addition, we also urgently need a new theatre space which would be built on an area close to the statue of Makarios’ head.”

Tuesday’s meeting took place between Vergas, Paphos councillors, the President of the House of Representatives, Yiannakis Omirou, Paphos MP’s, officials from the ministry of communications and works, the Department of European and International affairs – a section of the education ministry – and other ministerial officials.

“The reaction of the president of the house was positive and he is arranging further meetings with the ministers of finance and education to continue our progress, speed things up and to be able to help us,” said Vergas.

The mayor added that with the government’s support, Paphos hopes to be able to secure about €20 million from the EU and a further €7 million from the state.

“If work gets underway in the first few months of 2014, we will have enough time to complete everything in time for 2017,” he said.

According to CNA reports, Omirou stressed “the need for political commitment to promote and execute the projects. Should they not be ready on time, Cyprus would be “irreparably exposed,” he said.

Vergas said he had also highlighted the need for further facilities to be constructed in the waters of Paphos harbour to enable cruise ships and such like to be able to use it.

“This will swell visitor numbers and must be undertaken in the next two years if possible,” he said.

“I’m determined that Paphos will present the best face possible and I will not give up until we have what we need”.

LOW-COST carrier Ryanair on Tuesday announced its summer 2014 schedule, including a new route to Athens from Paphos which will operate daily from April 1.

Ryanair’s Sales & Marketing Manager Maria Macken said: “Seats on Ryanair’s new Paphos to Athens route will go on sale tomorrow [January 15] on ryanair.com with fares starting from €12. Ryanair’s €12 sale fare includes all non-optional taxes, charges and fees, so passengers who only travel with carry-on luggage and decline our priority boarding service can book, check-in online and fly for this advertised €12 fare.”
The airline’s new weekly routes schedule includes seven flights to Athens, two to Brussels, five to Chania (Crete), one to Kaunas, two to Krakow, six to London Stansted, two to Manchester, three to Patra, one to Stockholm and 11 to Thessaloniki.

The budget airline has two aircraft based at Paphos International Airport.

Also Air Berlin, Germany’s second largest airline, on Tuesday announced it was expanding its tourist destinations this summer, including flights to Larnaca.

“Tourist flights are an important pillar in our business model and we are constantly improving our services. With Larnaca and Malta, we have included new destinations in our portfolio and we are increasing the frequency of flights, especially to Greece and the Canary Islands,” said Detlef Altmann, Senior Vice President Sales Touristic Services.

WELFARE services have been called in after a ten-year-old girl falsely claimed that she had been a victim of an attempted abduction on Tuesday evening in Limassol.

The girl, whose parents are Ukrainian and Greek Cypriot, told police that while walking along the road she had been approached by a man in a car who tried to force her into his vehicle. In her original statement she said that two men had rushed to her assistance but later admitted that she had made up the story as she felt slightly neglected by her parents as her mother had recently given birth to twins.

Limassol CID chief Ioannis Soteriades told the Cyprus Mail that the young girl had felt she was no longer the centre of attention and made up the story.

By Andrew Osborn
Britain told its European Union partners on Wednesday the EU’s treaties were “not fit for purpose” and there must be reform or it would quit the bloc.
In the latest blast of euro-scepticism from Conservatives in Britain’s coalition government, Chancellor George Osborne said EU treaties had to be changed to protect member states like his own that don’t use the euro.

The comments, made at a conference in London on reform of the 28-nation EU, are unlikely to be embraced by integrationists in Brussels, who want Britain to remain in the bloc but have become irritated by its demands for change.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, accused countries like Britain that have questioned the bloc’s freedom of movement rules of having a “narrow, chauvinistic idea of the protection” of their interests – an indication of how tough London may find it to win allies.

Osborne, a close ally of Prime Minister David Cameron, said the treaties that governed how the EU was run were “not fit for purpose” and had to be overhauled.
“Proper legal protection for the rights of non-euro members is … absolutely necessary to preserve the single market and make it possible for Britain to remain in the EU,” he said.
“If we cannot protect the collective interests of non-euro zone member states then they will have to choose between joining the euro, which the UK will not do, or leaving the EU.”

A drive for closer integration among the 18 countries that use the single currency was straining the EU’s institutional architecture, he said, a situation he said risked “going beyond what was legally possible or politically sustainable”.

Britain’s Conservatives have long been sceptical about European integration. But their rhetoric is becoming stronger as they face a challenge in May’s European Parliament elections and beyond from the UK Independence Party, a primarily right-wing group that wants Britain to leave the EU.

Cameron has promised that if he is re-elected in 2015 he will try to renegotiate Britain’s EU ties before offering Britons an in/out referendum on membership.
The pledge, made last year, was partly designed to pacify his party’s lawmakers whose vocal desire to leave the EU or radically dilute its influence over British life risked tearing the party apart and undermining Cameron.

It was a strategy that worked for a while, but the same euro-sceptics have now begun to demand Cameron do more to counter what they see as the EU’s pernicious influence.
In comments that looked designed to placate them, Osborne said he and Cameron were determined to make good on their EU promises.

“Our determination is clear: to deliver the reform and then let the people decide,” he said.
“It is the status quo which condemns the people of Europe to an ongoing economic crisis and continuing decline. And so there is a simple choice for Europe: reform or decline.”

He reeled off a list of EU financial market policies which he said Britain was challenging at the European Court of Justice, saying he was constantly forced to fight off damaging EU regulation of the sector.

Many polls have shown a slim majority of Britons – disenchanted with the EU’s red tape and what they view as its overbearing intervention in their everyday lives – would vote to leave the EU if given the chance.

Both pro and anti-EU groups agree any referendum would be close.
The Conservatives have not yet disclosed all the areas they want to reform, but the general thrust of their demand is that they want Britain and other member states to repatriate powers in policy areas such as immigration and social security.

Osborne, who is presiding over a strong economic recovery in Britain, said the European economy had stalled and was being shown up by economies like China and India.
Calling for economic reform of the EU, he said it would be a “complete betrayal” to stall a possible free trade deal between the EU and the United States, something he said lawmakers in the European Parliament had floated doing.

He said his preference was for Britain to remain in a reformed EU. But he said he agreed with Britain’s foreign secretary who once said that he wanted the country to be “in Europe but not run by Europe”.

FORMER President Spyros Kyprianou’s bulletproof presidential limo was auctioned off yesterday for €16,000.

The Mercedes was bought by the government in 1985 and was also used during former president George Vassiliou’s presidency. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan used the vehicle in 2002 when he visited Cyprus in May 2002.

The car’s new owner, Andreas Orphanides, said the vehicle would now be in safe hands and that it would be placed in a museum for classic cars.

THE number of flamingos on Cyprus’ wetlands decreased in December compared to the same period the previous year while the number of ducks increased.

The Game Fund said that more than 24,000 birds were counted last month of which the majority (15,134) were flamingos with 13,600 counted at Akrotiri salt lake.

The number of ducks in December increased significantly compared to the previous year, the Game Fund said, with numbers reaching 5,716.

In 2012, the total number of birds was slightly more than last year in December, reaching around 24,700 with more than 20,000 flamingos and around 1,880 ducks.

In 2011 during the same period, 21,160 total birds were counted, with flamingos amounting to 12,093 and 4,558 ducks.

The biggest threat to birdlife on the island, according to the Game Fund, is illegal poaching, the lack of water due to drought and the dumping of garbage on wetlands.

Lionel Messi, who lost his World Player of the Year crown to Cristiano Ronaldo this week, has failed to make the Team of the Year picked by users of European football governing body UEFA’s website.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo were picked as forwards in the team which was dominated by players from the Bundesliga and Spain’s La Liga.
Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil was the only current Premier League player to make the line-up and there were none at all from Italy’s Serie A.

UEFA said that 6.3 million people cast votes in the poll on its website. Real Madrid and Portugal forward Ronaldo was included for a record seventh successive year and Paris St Germain’s Brazilian Thiago Silva was the only non-European.

Team: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich and Germany), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid and Spain), Thiago Silva (Paris St Germain and Brazil), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich and Germany), David Alaba (Bayern Munich and Austria), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund and Germany), Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid/Arsenal and Germany), Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur/Real Madrid and Wales), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich and France), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid andPortugal), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St Germain and Sweden)

JUSTICE minister Ionas Nicolaou briefed the House Legal and Human Rights committees on Wednesday on “measures taken following research and careful study, based on information obtained from the prison.”

In the four-hour session, described by DISY MP Rikkos Mappourides as “tumultuous”, Nicolaou defended the ministry’s record in addressing issues relating to the penitentiary institution, and reported a “prevailing culture of cover-ups and improper investigation” among prison staff, which the government finds “completely unacceptable.”

The minister described specific instances of gross misconduct by prison staff, which subsequently went unpunished and uninvestigated. One striking incident was the case of convict Andreas Onoufriou, who was found, while incarcerated, in possession of special blue paper used in issuing police warrants, as well as government stamps which allowed him to “issue warrants from within the prison.”

After this episode was exposed, Nicolaou said, “no one was punished and no investigation was carried out by the prison’s management.” The government, he declared, “will no longer stand for the inaction that has brought us to this point.”

The minister went on to list the actions taken thus far under a “strategic plan” formulated over the summer of 2013, following communication with then-acting prison governor Giorgos Tryfonides. Measures include reinstating the Release Board, converting two prison wings into a health centre, improving regulation of visiting hours of solicitors with their clients, extending meal times after 4am, establishing a regulation-reform team, issuing instructions to discontinue group punishments like obligatory haircuts and shaving, securing better and larger food portions at 40 per cent lower cost, resolving issues of personal hygiene like the provision of hot water, heating and air-conditioning, and facilitating better communication of inmates with their families.

Further, in an effort to decongest the overcrowded institution, Nicolaou revealed that the government is looking into granting pardons to foreign minor offenders who are willing to depart for their home countries immediately. Also, where extradition treaties exist, convicts may be presented with the option of being transferred to their country to serve the remainder of their sentence.

The minister also unveiled updated government plans to build a new prison that can accommodate 1,200 inmates in 300 single and 450 double cells in a space of 26,000 square metres, at a cost of €100m, down from an initial estimated cost €200m. According to Nicolaou, the government will soon be inviting tenders for the construction of the new prisons.

Asked to comment on Tryfonides’s claim that he did not, in fact, request that he be transferred back to the police force, the minister said that Tryfonides “made the request verbally during Sunday’s meeting”, and pledged to submit it in writing as well.

In the matter of possible disciplinary or other action against Tryfonides, the minister denied the existence of evidence thus far but assured the House that if investigation produces “evidence warranting disciplinary procedures”, these will be started.

Responding to criticism from MPs on the presence of the MMAD riot squad, Nicolaou said it was “a temporary necessity, to perform checks.”

MMAD head Savvas Christou said that in multiple meetings held on Tuesday, both at the prison and the Justice ministry, several decisions were made, with more to come. Among them, he said, is to “immediately start training all prison personnel, from officers to guards, at the Police Academy, engaging a number of lecturers.”

Christou added that the University of Cyprus has already expressed its eagerness to assist with the training.

The MMAD commander said that although he deemed the squad’s presence at the prison “basically unnecessary” due to the initial tension having gradually been alleviated, it will nonetheless remain stationed there until the situation is “fully normalised.”

“Despite some negativity and initial shock amongst inmates at our presence, with appropriate handling by ourselves and the cooperation of prison personnel and the inmates, we are now hardly noticeable,” Christou concluded.

By Angelos Anastasiou

FURTHER developments have surfaced regarding the ongoing crisis in Cyprus’s penitentiary institution, raising questions as to the quality of psychiatric care provided to inmates, while Justice minister Ionas Nicolaou and Ombudswoman Eliza Savvidou lambasted prison staff for complicity, negligence and dereliction of duty.

The situation reached a critical point this week when a fifth hunger striker committed suicide, while the police anti-riot squad MMAD sent in a unit to prevent riots.

Dr Louis Kariolou, the Central Prisons resident psychiatrist was notified by the Health ministry of his transfer on Tuesday, a decision he described as “time-wise misguided.” Although he had submitted a transfer request himself three months ago, Kariolou said that current critical circumstances at the Central Prisons “did not favour” his transfer.

He claimed to have informed both the ministers of Justice and Health of the problems as soon as they assumed their duties, stressing the need to overhaul the legal framework with regard to the prison’s administrative structure. Otherwise, he warned, he would request to be transferred. Kariolou was advised that he could be transferred as soon as a replacement had been fully trained.

In a letter to Health minister Petros Petrides following Kariolou’s transfer, the Justice minister requested that he temporarily remain at his post in order to oversee his replacement’s training and formal assumption of duties.

In response to former acting prison director Giorgos Tryfonides’s comments on Tuesday’s suicide of a 28-year-old Bulgarian inmate, Kariolou said that Tryfonides may not offer psychiatric evaluations as he is not a psychiatrist. The prison chief had claimed that the inmate was examined by a psychiatrist shortly before committing suicide and was sent back to his cell as he had been judged to be in good mental health.

“The medical records for this case are fully up to date and can be evaluated by the Health ministry and the state’s psychiatric services”, Kariolou said.

“Someone determined to take his own life, even if two policemen are guarding him on a 24-hour basis, will find that one second he needs to do it,” he added.

Despite such conflicts and – according to the doctor – Tryfonides’s regular meddling into his area of responsibility, Kariolou claimed that their professional co-operation was good.

“The minister has formed an opinion of me based on hear-say, without asking for my views”, he complained. This was in response to Petrides’s assertion of “poor communication” between Tryfonides and the psychiatrist, which has been offered as justification for the transfer.

Kariolou has been calling for clarification in role and task allocation, and for a psychiatric clinic to be created for inmates so that the quality of care could be enhanced.

Justice minister Ionas Nicolaou on Wednesday confirmed that the government has come to a final decision on converting wing 23 of the Athalassa psychiatric facility into a mental health clinic for detainees, especially when symptoms “manifest with self-injury.” The conversion is planned to be completed within 15 days. The new wing will only admit serious cases of mental illness, while milder cases will be referred to the in-house health centre.

At the prison on Wednesday, Ombudswoman Savvidou and a delegation from the lawyers’ association held successive meetings with a representative committee of prisoners and the prison’s administration to record their views and help resolve issues. Savvidou described the meetings as “constructive” and noted the need for daily communication with inmates to ensure issues are addressed, citing problems like water cuts and power cuts, and announcing that such issues will be resolved immediately to alleviate frustration.

Savvidou had earlier reported identifying instances of psychological and physical abuse, sexual harassment and rape within the prison, and arguing that the administration’s hostile stance towards inmates has been adopted following the 2009 Kitas scandal, when supposedly-incarcerated lifer Antonis Kitas had staged a spectacular escape from a private hospital where he was allowed to be treated with nominal police guard. Kitas was arrested after about a month on the lam and the ensuing investigation prompted the resignation of Justice minster Kypros Chrysostomides and police chief Iacovos Papacostas, as well as the suspension of prison governor Michalis Hadjidemetriou, along with several prison officers. The incident heavily tarnished the police force’s image, reducing the body to little more than a joke in the public’s eyes.

By Stefanos Evripidou

THE UK and Cyprus signed a “historic” agreement on Wednesday lifting restrictions on commercial and industrial development in non-military areas within the British Bases for the first time since the country’s independence over half a century ago.

The agreement signed between Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides and UK Foreign Secretary William Hague in London was hailed by President Nicos Anastasiades as a “historic development” providing an overall framework for property development in the British bases 53 years after the establishment of the Republic.

The deal will give residents and property owners in the three municipalities and 16 local communities situated either fully or partially within the bases’ area the right to develop properties, going beyond housing needs to include commercial or industrial use.

The agreement covers an area of 198 square kilometres, counting for 78 per cent of total Sovereign Base Areas’ (SBA) territory, and affords greater flexibility to develop all private property within the bases.

Negotiations with the UK began three and a half months ago, culminating in Wednesday’s agreement signed during Anastasiades’ first official visit to London as president to meet with UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

Comments emanating from both leaders suggested Cyprus-UK relations have come a long way since the days when a prominent Cypriot politician described the UK as Cyprus’ “evil demon”.

During their meeting, the two leaders discussed the economy, bilateral relations, the Cyprus problem, regional issues in the Middle East and the future of the EU.

In his welcoming remarks, Cameron said he was “delighted” to welcome Anastasiades at 10 Downing Street, to whom he talked regularly at European Councils and other international gatherings or conferences.

The PM described relations between the two countries as “very, very strong”.

For his part, Anastasiades expressed his “deep appreciation for the historic agreement” signed on Wednesday, “as well as for the assistance that your country and you personally have given us with regard to, among others, the restructuring of the banking sector and the public sector”.

The two leaders then issued a joint communiqué reaffirming the “strong bonds of friendship and partnership” between Cyprus and the UK, while highlighting the many areas of shared interest.

According to the joint communiqué, the Bases’ arrangement “is important in giving greater freedom to residents and property owners within the Bases to use their property while safeguarding the UK’s effective operation of the Bases for military use”.

The statement notes that the agreement “is an excellent example of the good cooperation between the two governments in the administration of the Bases”, while also enhancing “considerably the prospects for investment and growth”.

Regarding the continued division of the island, Cameron and Anastasiades reaffirmed their “active commitment to a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem, which would bring political, economic, and social benefits to the island and the region”.

The communiqué notes that both leaders “support a settlement agreed under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General, based on the UN Charter and the Security Council Resolutions on Cyprus, as well as on the principles upon which the EU is founded, for a state of Cyprus with a single sovereignty, single international personality and a single citizenship, in a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as described in the relevant UNSCRs”.

The two leaders also discussed “how the EU needs to reform to become more flexible, more competitive, and more democratic – including through a strengthened role for national parliaments, where appropriate, and the case for renewing citizens’ democratic consent and support for the EU”.

They recognised the need for single market reform to simplify regulation in the EU and support growth.

On EU enlargement, the two agreed that “accession of future member states to the EU is dependent on them meeting all accession criteria”, as well as on the need to explore ways to manage the impact of accession on local communities in the future.

The communiqué refers to the “significant progress” and “strong commitment” of the Cypriot government to implement its adjustment programme agreed with the troika and to revitalise the economy.

Both countries agreed to continue co-operation on property and energy issues, noting that Cyprus’ exploration and exploitation of its natural resources in its exclusive economic zone will “enhance the EU’s energy security and will contribute economic benefits”.

The two countries also “share a decisive commitment to addressing security threats and humanitarian issues, especially in the Middle East”, with the Syria crisis highlighting “the potential for further cooperation and coordination between Cyprus and the UK, including with respect to the Sovereign Bases Areas, in addressing possible threats and ensuring the security and stability of the wider region”.

Speaking after the meeting to reporters, Anastasiades described the visit to London as being of “historic significance”, adding that bilateral talks were held in a “warm and friendly climate”.

Regarding the adopted text of the joint communiqué on the Cyprus problem, the president described as “very important” the fact the British government supports his positions on the basis of the negotiations.

Speaking to an audience of overseas Cypriots on Tuesday night, the president expressed his satisfaction with the stance followed by the British government on the Cyprus issue, particularly the past ten months. He also expressed gratitude to Cameron for the offer of technical  regarding reform of the state and overcoming the economic crisis.

Anastasiades is joined in London by his ministers of finance, foreign affairs and energy, as well as the government spokesman and the director of his diplomatic office. The Cypriot delegation is due back to the island on Friday.

THE Index of Production in Construction for the third quarter of 2013 declined by 32.9 per cent year on year, figures released yesterday by the statistical service CyStat show.

The index is provisionally estimated at 45.6 units (base year 2010=100,0).

Production in buildings declined by 31 per cent, whereas civil engineering projects registered a decrease of 37.1 per cent year on year.

Furthermore, according to CyStat, the Output Prices Index in Construction for the third quarter of 2013 is provisionally estimated at 100.7 units, recording a decrease of 0.7 per cent over the second quarter of 2013. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, the index recorded a decrease of 2.6%.

Output index for buildings declined by 2.3 per cent year on year and by 3.2 per cent for civil engineering projects.

CREDIT card transactions dropped 5 per cent to €2,156m last year over 2012, according to figures released by JCC payment systems, while transactions with credit cards in the domestic market in December reached 222.5m, marking a decline of 4 per cent year on year.

Credit card payments to utilities and electronic shops increased by 4 per cent in December, while payments to public organisations, shopping malls, clothing and music shops declined.

Purchases and cash withdrawals abroad for 2013 declined by 10 per cent reaching €1.261m.

For December, purchases and cash withdrawals declined markedly, dropping 18 per cent year on year to €98.8m.

However, credit card transactions by tourists in Cyprus last year reached €544m, an increase of 2 per cent year on year, whereas purchases by tourists using a credit card in December 2013 increased by 7 per cent to €27.5m.

Cyprus Ports Authority (CPA) workers on Thursday called off a planned strike for Friday to protest against a deal signed in 2012 by the previous administration giving a private contractor the right to towing and navigating at Vassilikos.

In a unanimous decision taken by trade union representatives following a three-hour meeting with port authority management an agreement was reached for the gradual transition of the towing and navigating rights at Vasilikos to be returned to the ports authority.

“This is a positive outcome following the reassurances we received from the CPA chief,” SEK’s port authority union representative Pantelis Stavrou told the Cyprus Mail.

Larnaca has been short-listed among the top ten cities in Europe in the context of EU Mobility Week.

A total of 1,923 cities hosted events for Mobility Week, which aims at creating an urban environment friendly to alternative mobility means such as public transport, bicycles and walking.

Representatives of the Municipality of Larnaca will take part in the award ceremony to take place in Brussels on March 24-25.

Lefteris Embedoklis, from the Larnaca Municipality said the town has been participating for years in Mobility Week, which is organised every September.

“The aim of these events is to reduce the use of motor vehicles and minimise emissions,” he adde. Three years ago Larnaca was chosen in the top three for the events it organised, while last year the city was again short-listed among the top ten European cities for the best action in the context of European Mobility Week.

The European Mobility Week Award scheme aims to reward the local authority that is deemed to have done the most in raising public awareness of sustainable mobility issues and in implementing measures to achieve a shift towards sustainable urban transport. An independent panel of transport experts assesses all eligible applications and shortlists 10 local authorities which they consider have performed outstandingly well.

THE number of forest fires in 2013 was significantly higher than the previous year, but more land was burnt in 2012 than last year, according to statistics released by the forestry department.

Paphos saw the biggest increase in 2013 with almost double that from the previous year. Last year, a total of 59 forest fires were recorded in the Paphos districts, burning 71 hectares of land while in 2012, 32 fires destroyed just over 266 hectares of land, the forestry department said.

According to forestry official Andreas Christou, a total of 190 forest fires broke out, burning 412 hectares of land. In 2012, Christou added, a total of 112 forest fires destroyed more than 550 hectares.

THE number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell for the second consecutive week last week, suggesting a sharp step-down in job growth in December was likely to be temporary.

The better labour market tone was also captured by a survey yesterday showing an acceleration in manufacturing activity in the Mid-Atlantic region, accompanied by a rise in factory jobs.

Even as the economy gathers steam there is little sign of a broad pick-up in prices, keeping inflation pressures muted.

“The outlook for 2014 remains good. The economy is not generating much inflation at the moment, but this is no reason to doubt its vitality,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in New York.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 326,000, the Labour Department said. That compared to economists’ expectations for a fall to 328,000.

Job growth slowed sharply in December, with employers adding only 74,000 new jobs to their payrolls. Nonfarm payrolls had increased 241,000 in November and the retreat last month was blamed on cold weather.

In a separate report, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said its business activity index rose to 9.4 points this month from 6.4 in December. Any reading above zero indicates manufacturing expansion in the region, which includes factories in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware.

A gauge of factory employment surged this month, but workers had fewer hours on average. There also was a slowdown in new orders.

Despite the improving growth picture, inflation remains largely dormant.

In another report, the Labour Department said its Consumer Price Index increased 0.3 per cent after being flat in November. In the 12 months to December, consumer prices accelerated 1.5 per cent after advancing 1.2 per cent in November.

The increases were in line with economists’ expectations.

Stripping out the volatile energy and food components, the so-called core CPI rose only 0.1 per cent, slowing from a 0.2 per cent gain in November.

That left its increase over the past 12 months at 1.7 per cent, where it has now been for four consecutive months.

The Fed targets 2 per cent inflation, although it tracks a gauge that tends to run a bit below CPI.

The U.S. central bank has started reducing the pace of its monthly bond purchases, but persistently low inflation is expected to see it hold interest rates near zero for a long time even if the jobs market picks up significantly.

Slack in the jobs market, which has seen small gains in wages, is keeping the lid on inflation. Even as the economy accelerates, wage growth is expected to lag, meaning inflation is likely to only gradually increase this year.

“We continue to expect the Fed to remain biased towards a lower policy rate theme for even longer, though they will continue to pursue the current unwinding of bond purchases, which we expect to be completed late this year,” said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York.

A 3.1 per cent increase in gasoline prices was mostly behind the spike in inflation last month. The increase in gasoline was the largest since June and followed a 1.6 per cent fall in November. Food prices nudged up 0.1 per cent, rising by the same margin for a third month.

Within the core CPI, apparel prices rose 0.9 per cent, also the largest gain since June. Apparel prices had declined for three consecutive months.

There were increases in rents. While medical care costs rose 0.3 per cent, prices for prescription drugs fell 0.9 per cent. Tobacco prices rose, maintaining the trend seen in wholesale prices.

New motor vehicle prices were flat, while prices for used cars and trucks fell.

BRITAIN’S top shares steadied near last year’s peak yesterday, propped up by steep gains from miners on optimism over the global economy and upbeat analyst comment.

Miners added the most points to the FTSE. The FTSE 350 Mining Index rose 3.3 per cent while Rio Tinto firmed 2.6 per cent after reporting big increases in production.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index, which on Wednesday had closed at an eight-month high, was off 3.96 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 6,815.90 points – hovering close to its 2013 high of 6,875.

The UK benchmark has broken out of a technical analysis pattern called a “bullish flag”, sending a positive signal, with the index now not far off its record high.

“This (the break out of the flag pattern) should take it to its all-time high at 6,950 in January. It will be helped by mining stocks which are in a position to gain some 9 per cent over the same period,” Valerie Gastaldy, head of technical analysis firm Day-By-Day, said.

Despite strength seen already in equities, analysts remain positive given encouraging signs from the world’s largest economy, with data yesterday showing a drop in U.S. jobless claims suggesting a sharp step-down in job growth in December was likely to be temporary.

Question marks remain over whether the overall market justifies such high valuations after a bumper 2013, but a significant underperformance seen from the miners last year has restored value to the sector.

“If you are to make an investment case for the FTSE I think, almost by definition now, that involves being more upbeat and more positive on the resources plays,” Ian Richards, head of equity strategy at Exane BNP Paribas, said.

The mining sector was the worst-performing equity sector in 2013, dogged by concerns over a possible slowdown in economic growth in China, which is the world’s biggest metals consumer.

It trades on a 12-month forward price/earnings ratio of 11.1 times, against the FTSE 100 on 12.9 times, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.

Analysts at U.S. bank Citigroup published an upbeat note on the sector.

Citi upgraded its rating on the sector to “bullish” from “neutral” – marking the first time it had taken such as position on the mining industry in three years.

The U.S bank said an upturn in the European and U.S. economies could offset any slowdown in China.

“Improvements in European and U.S. growth are supportive for commodities and weakening commodity currencies are providing a fillip for the miners,” it wrote in a note.

The FTSE 100 rose 14.4 per cent in 2013 to post its best annual gain since 2009. The index has gained around 1 per cent since the start of 2014.

FOUR men accused of assassinating Lebanese statesman Rafik al-Hariri used dozens of mobile phones during the last weeks of his life to coordinate the massive car bombing that killed him and 21 others in 2005, prosecutors said yesterday.

The trial in absentia of the four, all members of the Hezbollah political party and militant group, began before a United Nations court in The Hague, nearly nine years after the bombing that nearly plunged Lebanon back into civil war.

Hariri’s son Saad – like his father, a former prime minister – said the trial would help promote justice and democracy in a country which has long been afflicted by political violence.

“We are beginning to see the unfolding of how prime minister Hariri and many others of the Cedar Revolution have been killed and assassinated because of their fight for democracy,” he told reporters, referring to the protests after his father’s death that put an end to decades of Syrian occupation of the country.

Even as the trial began, Lebanon was hit by yet another deadly attack, when a suicide car bomber killed himself and three other people, wounding 26, in a Hezbollah stronghold on Lebanon’s northern border with Syria.

The men on trial – Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra – are accused of murder, terrorism and orchestrating the bomb attack on Hariri. They could be sentenced to life imprisonment if found guilty. The case is expected to last years.

Prosecutors said data culled from telephone networks’ records of billions of calls and text messages showed that the defendants called each other from dozens of mobile phones to monitor Hariri in the months before his assassination and to coordinate their movements on the day of the attack.

“They used telephone networks that were put in place and maintained months before the actual conspiracy,” said Alexander Milne, a prosecution lawyer.

Phones that had been bought six months before the attack or even in the previous year suddenly sparked into life in the final three months of Hariri’s life, prosecutors said, as the alleged conspirators used them to set their plan in motion.

All of the phones used went silent immediately before or shortly after the bombing.

Afterwards, the attackers attempted to pin the blame on a fictional fundamentalist group called “Victory and Jihad in Greater Syria”, prosecutors said, calling the Beirut offices of Reuters and Al Jazeera to claim responsibility in its name.

But investigators had found nothing linking Ahmad Abu Adas, the man who claimed responsibility on a video left outside the office of the pan-Arab news channel, to the attack scene.

Prosecutor Norman Farrell illustrated the attack on February 14, 2005 with the aid of a large scale model of the scene showing Beirut’s St. George Hotel, where a Mitsubishi van laden with up to 3,000 kg of high-grade explosives was blown up, leaving a massive crater.

“The attackers used an extraordinary quantity of high-grade explosives, far more than was required to kill their main target,” he told the trial, being held in a converted basketball court in a moated building that used to house the Dutch intelligence services.

“Clearly their aim was not to ensure that their target was killed, but to send a terrifying message and to cause panic among the population of Beirut and Lebanon.”

Hariri was killed in the deadliest of a series of attacks against critics of Syria’s military dominance in Lebanon. His death triggered public protest and led to the establishment of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

His Western supporters hailed the tribunal as a chance to close a long chapter of impunity in Lebanon, where bombers and assassins have operated since the 1975-1990 civil war with little prospect of facing justice in court.

“I’ve been waiting for this for nine years … But it’s just the beginning,” said Anna El Hassan, whose husband Wissam, a Hariri ally, was killed in a bomb blast in Beirut in 2012.

Hezbollah, however, has condemned the court as a tool of its arch-enemy Israel and of the western powers.